SANITARY COMMISSION. 

INTO. 2S>. 


T1 E P O II T 

CONCERNING THE 

Aii> mitt Comfort gibcit k fljc Santfarn Commission 

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-- - 

By FREDERICK N. KNAPP, 

SPECIAL RELIEF AGENT. 


Office of Stanifarg Commission, 

Treasury Building, Sept. 2:5, 18G1. 

To Fred. Law Olmsted, Esq., 

Secretary of the Sanitary Commission : 

Sir : In answer to your request, I submit the following report, as 
Special Relief Agent of the Sanitary Commission : 

The main purpose had in view in this agency has been to lessen the 
hardships to which the ignorance of the sick volunteers and their offi¬ 
cers of the forms and methods of government make them subject while 
in the city of Washington, and to provide for certain wants of the 
volunteers, when detached from their regiments, for which the govern¬ 
ment arrangements had been inadequate, and which the regular inspec¬ 
tors of the Commission, in their visits of camps and hospitals, could not 
attend to. 

Practically, the chief duty has been— 

First. To supply to the sick men of the regiments arriving here 
such medicines, food, and care as it was impossible for them to receive 


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in the midst of the confusion, and with the lack of facilities, from their 
own officers. 

Second. To furnish suitable food, lodging, care, and assistance to 
men discharged from the general hospitals, or from their regiments, 
but who are often delayed for a number of days in the city before they 
obtain their papers and pay. 

Third. To give assistance and information, and secure transportation 
to men who arrive at the station house in small numbers, and want to 
find and join their regiments. Some of these are men accidentally 
left behind: some are men who have been detained by order for a few 
days at hospitals in Philadelphia or Baltimore. 

The facilities for carrying out this aim of the Commission have been, 
until recently, very deficient. There was no fit place at the reception 
buildings where sick men could be made comfortable; no means near 
at hand for providing such food as was needed. Government did not 
recognize the necessity or fitness of such provision. 

On August 9, General Mansfield issued an order, directing the offi¬ 
cers in charge of the reception buildings to furnish all facilities in their 
power to members of the Sanitary Commission who wished to give 
comfort to the sick soldiers. But the facilities in their power were 
small, as, at that time no cooking was permitted there; except hard 
bread, only uncooked rations were supplied; and there were no beds 
allowed in the building, as its object was simply for “ reception” of 
troops. 

The most that we could do, therefore, was to have a place assigned 
us—part of the smaller building, the u Cane Factory”—where we put 
the sick as they came in, separate from the crowd of the other building; 
and here we had a pile of blankets, from which we made such beds as we 
could, and then brought tea and coffee and supplies for the men from 
the restaurant in the station house, or, more often, from a boarding¬ 
house on Pennsylvania avenue. 

When the regiments whose sick men we had charge of went to camp, 
they usually carried their sick with them, unless the men seemed too 
feeble to go; in which case we saw that the men were taken to a gene- 


Ji 

ral hospital, or else we kept them in charge a few days longer, uutil 
- the regimental hospital could be put into comfortable condition. 

Sometimes the sick of a regiment just arrived occupied a separate 
. passenger car, and remained in the car until the regiment moved ; in that 
^\ s case we supplied them with tea and coffee and needed refreshment in 
the car. 

Often the surgeon of the regiment had no medicine at hand for the 
sick, it being locked up in his chest, which could not be reached in the 
baggage car ; in that case we obtained for him such medicines as imme¬ 
diate needs required. 

When we found men from general or regimental hospitals waiting to 
get their discharge papers filled out, and for their pay, we took them 
in charge, sheltered and fed them, and if the} r needed the help, went 
with them to the different offices where their papers had to be pre¬ 
sented. 

When we found men who were too weak to bear the fatigue of going 
with their papers, we took charge of the papers ourselves, had them 
filled up, obtained the signature of the men to blank receipts for money 
due to them by government, and thus, by consent of the paymaster, 
received the money, and paid it over to the men. This privilege could 
only be granted in cases of absolute necessity. 

When we found men seeking their regiments, we directed them (from 
a record of the location of the various regiments kindly furnished us by 
Major Williams;) if they needed a little money, we gave it to them; 
if they were weak, obtained an order for an ambulance, or an army 
wagon, or a railroad pass, by which they were sent to their respective 
stations. 

In many cases, men who were discharged left their regimental hos¬ 
pitals sadly in need of clean garments, especially shirts, stockings, and 
drawers; in such cases, before they started for home, we made the men 
clean and comfortable. 

When we found men at the reception buildings in need of medical 
treatment, but not sick enough to be sent to the general hospital, we 
called in a physician, unless their own surgeon could be obtained. 


/ 


As a general rule, we were each day at the station—early in the 
morning, late in the evening, and at mid-day. and whenever the arrival 
of a regiment was expected. 

The men in charge of the reception buildings, and of the rations, 
and those who had in charge the locating the newly-arrived regiments, 
were kind, attentive, and ready to co-operate with us, so far as it w r as 
in their power, and in accordance with their instructions. 

About the 20th of August, government ordered cooked rations (cold 
meats and bread and hot coffee) to be ready for the regiments on their 
arrival at the station. This afforded some relief to men who were not 
well, but did not furnish the food needed by the sick, leaving to us 
still most of our work to do. 

On Friday evening, August 30th, the provost marshal visited th'e re¬ 
ception buildings, and issued orders that no men going or coming be 
allowed to remain in the buildings longer than six hours, as the build¬ 
ings w r ere for the reception of troops, not for hospital purposes. This 
obliged us to provide immediately some other place where we could 
take such soldiers as, from the necessities of the cases, required more 
than six hours of shelter or care. 

We fortunately obtained part of a house near the station, on Capitol 
Hill, (the second house from the railroad, on the street running from 
the rear of the station to the Capitol,) and on Saturday night it was 
furnished with beds and all conveniences for the accommodation of 
thirty to forty men ; and that night there were twenty-one invalid sol¬ 
diers resting there. 

The rooms of this house are large and high, and are well ventilated. 
One room is 19 by 33 feet, and 10 feet high; the other room 19 by 
33 feet, and 13 feet high ; each room with four windows opening to the 
floor. There is a broad piazza to each room. There is a front entrance 
independent of the rest of the house, and stairs have been built from 
the rear window dow r n to the out-buildings beyond. It is hired by the 
month at a reasonable rent; and an arrangement has been made with 
the woman who lives in the house—a most judicious, worthy, and 
kindly person—to take care of the rooms, and to furnish such board 


and general supplies to tlie men as we may order; also to furnish all 
additional care to those who may require it. We have a store-room 
theie, with such clothing and comforts as may be demanded. An ar¬ 
rangement has been made with Dr. Grymes, an experienced physician 
living near by, to call at the house every morning and evening, and 
pi escribe for such men as require treatment. Rules in regard to neat¬ 
ness, behavior, Ac., have been prepared, to which the men received 
there are obliged to conform. 

Our own store-room furnished much of what was needed to fit up the 
rooms. 

Some of the men taken to this house require only the shelter and 
beds for the night, and then in the morning take their rations with 
their regiment at the reception buildings. Others, more seriously sick, 
or just out of hospitals, need to remain and be cared for longer. 

It is not the plan to consider this, in any sense, a hospital , but only 
as a place where the weak can rest and be cared for, and the sick 
remain awhile until they are otherwise provided for; and also where 
those returning home, who have no claim upon hospital or camp or 
station-house, may be sheltered if obliged to remain near the station 
more than six hours. Therefore, as a general thing, men will remain 
in the house but one, two, or three days at any given'time. We call 
the place “ The Soldiers’ Home.” 

I will note down in brief some points from the journal which I have 
kept. 

Friday, Aug. 9th. Go early to the station-house. Find in a pas¬ 
senger car 86 sick men of an Indiana regiment, which had arrived in 
the night; found the car hot and very dirty, of necessity; water close 
beyond use or endurance ; one surgeon is absent up town for medicine, 
(medicine chest is under baggage,) the other surgeon has gone to get 
leave to take to the hospital some of the sick. The men had eaten 
nothing for 24 hours, except hard bread and water; nothing else 
could be obtained. 

As the first work, I employed a black man to reduce the water closet to 
a sanitary state, and some other parts of the car likewise; then got at 


a boarding-house two pails full of tea, and a half bushel of bread and 
butter, for distribution, with some other little comforts for those most 
sick. These men were left in the car from no neglect, but because 
the reception buildings were too much crowded for the sick to be put 
there. In about an hour the surgeons returned ; they were attentive 
to the men, and seemed grateful for our kindness to them; they desired 
themselves to have provided for the comfort of their sick, but did 
not know which way to turn. Soon the army wagons and ambulances 
took the sick men to join in the move toward an encampment. _ Bur, 
the poor fellows were fed. 

Saturday, Aug. 10th. After visiting the newly-arrived regiments, 
and giving some comforts to the sick, I found around the station-house 
on New Jersey avenue thirty-six men of a Massachusetts regiment, who 
had dropped out of the ranks the afternoon before, as they moved from 
below Alexandria to Bladensburg. It had been an intensely hot after¬ 
noon, and the march was evidently forced, (some of the officers were 
mounted.) I found upon enquiry that one man dropped out beyond 
the Long Bridge, and was left in charge of two comrades, (he died 
that night,) and the others fell out all along through the streets; no 
officer was detailed at the time to collect these men, or to care for 
them. Knowing that Bladensburg was somewhere on the railroad, 
the stragglers had all found their way during the evening to the 
s’ation-house. They had eaten nothing since Friday noon, and were 
many of them quite exhausted. I brought them such supplies as I could, 
bread enough at least. One man I found apparently asleep, lying on 
the brick sidewalk in the hot sun with the others; but upon trying to 
arouse him, as his companions said he was very sick, T found he was 
entirely unconscious. A physician was called in, and after a half 
hour the man was restored to consciousness. From Dr. McLaren I 
obtained an order to send the sick men to the general hospital; from 
Gen. Mansfield an order to pass the other men to Bladensburg on the 
cars. Meantime, however, an officer of the regiment came to the sta 
tion-house and marched twenty of the men to the camp. The others 
were left, they were too weak to march ; and at 51 o'clock, they were 


I 


sent by cars. During this time no surgeon of the regiment came to 
look after these men. The man sent to the hospital was in a very weak 
state for a number of days j except for timely aid, he, too, would doubt¬ 
less have died. 

Aug. 11th, a. m. Furnish tea and food to 10 or 12 men who 
arrived in the night, and remained in the ambulances on the freight 
cars. They were otherwise well cared for, but needed more than hard 
bread and water. Also “ gave comfort’’ to the sick—some 15 or 20 
of them—of another regiment, who spent the previous uight in the 
Cane Factory. At 61 or 7 p. m., a Pennsylvania regiment arrived 
in the train. The regiment marched into quarters upon the avenue, 
leaving their sick to spend the night in the baggage cars. We took 
them into the building, and gave them supper, shelter, and in the morn- 

t 

ing a breakfast. There were of these, sixteen men and six women. 
Three of the men were so sick that in the morning they were carried 
to the general hospital. 

Aug. 12th. Look after these Pennsylvania men, and a few others. 

P. M., at 61 o’clock ) thirty men arrive, belonging to the Wiscon¬ 
sin 5th, in charge of a sergeant. He left them immediately to go to 
headquarters to get wagons to transport them to their camp. They 
were men seut on from the hospital at Baltimore. They had no pro¬ 
vision for supper. We supplied them, and at about 9} they were 
packed into the wagons which had arrived. Had I seen the sergeant 
beforehand, he would gladly have let them rest for the night in the 
reception house. Meantime, at about 8 o’clock, thirteen men and one 
woman, of the Wisconsin 6tli, arrive from Baltimore hospital, without 
any one in charge of them. They had been merely told to go to Wash¬ 
ington, and join their regiment. We gave them supper, made them 
comfortable for the night, and after breakfast they were taken to their 
encampment. 

Aug. 25th. Went to the Paymaster’s department, by request of a sick 
man at the station-house who had his papers, but said he was so weak 
he could not push up to the window and get his pay. I found about 
40 men waiting in the yard of the office, some apparently very feeble. 


8 


This was on Tuesday p. in. One man had been waiting since Satur¬ 
day forenoon ; he was lame and weak, and the other new comers kept 
him back. Three others had waited since Monday morning ; one, who 
was there all day on Saturday, without getting his pay, had died on 
Sunday night in a house near by. Seeing the case from the outside, 
which the officers within the building, in their press of business, did 
not observe, I stated the facts to the proper officers, and immediately 
they made arrangements by which the men most sick were paid off at 
once, and facilities secured for the future. 

I will turn now merely to the record of the few last days, though 
meantime we were enabled in various ways, by fui-nishing shelter, or 
food, or fresh clothes, to give comfort to many. 

Aug. 28th. Eighteen men arrive at station-house, from a Massa¬ 
chusetts regiment, to go home discharged ; but there is some defect in 
their papers. The surgeon, who has care of the men, is obliged to go 
up the river twenty-eight miles, where the regiment is in camp, and 
he is grateful to us for taking the men under our charge umil his 
return. Those who are well enough have eaten army rations (pro¬ 
vided them, by order of Capt. Beckwith, abundantly) at the reception 
house; those more unwell have been furnished by us with comforts. 
They were here, in need of care, from Wednesday noon until Monday 
afternoon. And when they left, they were very grateful. 

On Sunday night, Sept 2d, we had iu the new Home eighteen Massa¬ 
chusetts men, and ten sick men of the Tammany regiment, who were 
delayed here two days through some defects in their papers of dis¬ 
charge. There were also three other sick men, who came with a Penn¬ 
sylvania regiment on Saturday, and one Maine man, who came from the 
hospital at Annapolis with his surgeon's certificate of inability, but was 
too much exhausted by the journey to go over to Alexandria, where his 
regiment was located, to get his papers made out. He is resting here 

Monday night, Sept. 3d, there were 18 in the house; the Massa¬ 
chusetts men having left, and four new men having come in ; the Tarn- 
many men still remaining. 

Sept. bth. Thirty men arrive at the station-house from Annapolis 


!) 


hospital ; some of them to join their regiments, some to be discharged. 
They receive from Capt. Allen passes, so that they need not be arrested 
as they go through the city to report themselves at headquarters; but 
they have not a cent of money, and it is a long walk—a mile or more— 
for sick men to take; and they must carry their knapsacks, too. 
Therefore I furnish to each man money enough to pay his omnibus 
fare up there and back again, so that he can return for the night to the 
Horae if he is delayed. Some ten or fifteen of these men returned; 
their regiments were too far off to be reached that night. 

The next day, (Sept. 10th,) a number more—some twenty men— 
arrived from Annapolis hospital; we give aid to these as to the others, 
receiving some of them for the night. It is a little thing thus to give 
to a man enough to pay an omnibus fare, and to buy a meal; but when 
that little aid is given to each one of fifty or a hundred weary men 
each week, the aggregate of fatigue and anxiety which is relieved is 
not small in its sum; and I am sure that if the friends at home could 
purchase it at tenfold its cost for those who are weary by the way, 
they would consider it cheaply bought. 

Sept. 11th There were last night in the “ Soldiers’ Home,” as we 
now call it, twenty five men resting. Among them were a number of 
Berden’s sharpshooters; none of them were sick enough to go to a 
hospital, but some of them will doubtless be saved from serious illness 
by two or three days of rest and care. These men represent a large 
class of soldiers now arriving, who come in companies of fifties or 
hundreds, not yet organized into regiments, and therefore having no 
surgeon with them. To such we feel that we can render especial ser¬ 
vice. 

Sept 12th. A number discharged from a Maine regiment, but who 
arrived in the city too late to get their pay, after wandering about for 
some time found their way to the Home. They were without shelter 
and without money, for they had expected to arrive from their camp 
in Virginia in season to receive the money due to them, and start for 
home in the evening train. At first these men seemed unwilling to 
accept what they thought was charity; but I assured them that wc 


10 


were only supplying to them some of the very comforts which their 
own friends, perhaps, in Maine had sent on “ for the soldiers/’ (for 
Maine has not been unmindful of the call made upon her;) I fancied 
that they rested better that night for the assurance; they did not feel 
so far away from home. 

Sept. 13th. Last night we sheltered thirty-eight men, and fur¬ 
nished fresh clothes to some who were sorely in need. Among those 
to whom we gave comfort was one man whose earnest tone peculiarly 
impressed me; so I note the particulars. When I went to the recep¬ 
tion house in the eveniug I found there this man who looked tired 
and worn. T asked him if he was one of the men to be discharged. 
He said no, but that he had walked over twenty miles, and had hur¬ 
ried most of the way. Some two weeks ago, he received the news of 
his mother’s death and his father’s sickness, but he could not obtain 
leave of absence; yesterday it was telegraphed to him that his father 
had died; he now obtained a furlough for six days; but he had 
twenty-two miles to walk before he could reach the cars; he started 
early, but arrived here a half hour too late for the train, and conse 
quently would not be in Philadelphia in time for the funeral of his 
father. His wife was not living, but he had a little girl, three years 
old, in aid of whose support the city of Philadelphia paid fifty cents 
per week. He showed to me some of his letters from what 
was once his home. Realizing, as I thought, in my own heart 
the sad loneliness and weariness and disappointment which I knew 
he must experience, I said to him, Now, tell me honestly, for I 
want to know, just how a man feels when he is situated as you 
are; do you not wish you had never enlisted, and so were not obliged 
to start for camp again in three days after you reach your child ? He 
answered, “ No, sir; you can’t make me say that.. I enlisted because 
I loved my country, and I was determined to fight for her, and if every 
friend I have got in the world dies while I am away, I will not wish l 
had staid at home.” This man had borrowed of his captain barely 
money enough to pay his railroad fare both ways. I added something 
to this, but he was unwilling to take it till I told him it was for his 
little girl. 


n 


Sept. 15. Last night there were only twelve men in the Home. But 
early this morning we received sixteen men from a Michigan regiment, 
which arrived in the night. None of these, excepting four who were 
sent to the general hospital to-day, were very sick ; but with slight 
illness at first, they were entirely worn down and prostrated by the 
fatigue of a long journey, without rest, from Michigan. Just at this 
point of time, a day and night of sleep, and some little care, will prob¬ 
ably save them from a seriuus illness. Tuesday or Wednesday their 
regimental hospital will be ready, and they will then go there. 

Sept 16. Although four thousand troops have arrived in the last 
24 hours, there were but four sick men among them, except those of 
the Michigan regiment. The other regiments were from New Hamp¬ 
shire, Maine, and Rhode Island. The inspection of troops, previous 
to their enlisting, is evidently more thorough than with the earlier 
regiments. 

Just before night I met ten of the Garibaldians, who arrived in the city 
too late to get their pay. They are from the regimental hospital—sick 
and discharged. I told them how to find their way to the Home ; and, 
after a comfortable supper, they are now resting. 

Sept. 17. Last night there were forty-five men in the Home, more 
than half of them needing medical treatment. This morning one poor 
fellow left, who has been here anxiously waiting ten days for his papers, 
which had been sent to Poolesville to have a correction made in them. 
He is very sick with consumption, and every day of his unnecessary 
delay seemed a wrong to him. 

Sept. 18. This morning all but twelve men left for their regiments, 
or for home ; to-night thirty more of the sick came in from the four 
regiments that arrived. This afternoon I went to a regiment over 
the river, and obtained from a captain twenty dollars, which he had 
wrongfully or carelessly charged to a young man when his papers were 
made out. Three other cases similar to this have previously claimed 
our attention. 

From the 19th until the present time our chief attention has been 
given to the newly-arrived regiments—some seventeen regiments having 

& 


12 


come in during the five days. The number in the Home the past week 
has been from forty-five to fifty each night. Meantime, some men 
have been sent to us from regiments already in camp, but who were not 
provided with hospital tents. Most of these we transferred to the 
general hospital. 

The number of soldiers who have thus received care at the hands ot 
the Commission (some more, some less; some a single night’s lodging; 
some five or six days’ shelter and support) is not far from seven hun¬ 
dred. This covers the time from August 9th to September 23d. 

In this connection, it may be proper to say that these facts give in¬ 
creasing evidence of what a vast amount of delay, and consequent 
fatigue and anxiety, would be saved the soldiers who are sick and dis¬ 
charged, if the officers, whose duty it is in the various regiments to 1 
make out the discharge papers, could be led to feel the importance of 
making themselves thoroughly acquainted with all the forms required, 
and then would carefully regard them. Humanity, as well as official 
faithfulness, demands this. The paymaster, of course, is not author¬ 
ized to give a man his money upon a discharge that has a single flaw 
in it; so the man has to go back to the regiment again with his pa¬ 
pers, and the delay is certainly a wrong to the sick man, who thought 
he had fairly started for home. 

I may also state that there is now established by government a much 
more perfect system for sending to their respective regiments the sol¬ 
diers who arrive without officers. 

Allow me, likewise, to add, that in this formal report no record is 

made of what, after all, is one of the most valuable and most grateful 

methods by which “ aid and comfort” are given to these soldiers, 

namely, by the expression of the sympathy which they receive at our . 

hands, by the word of good cheer, by the assurance that some one is 

waiting to help them on. And this has a tenfold value to them when 

♦ 

they receive it, not as from one individual, but as from a thousand 
hands reached out from a thousand hearts, that bear with them con¬ 
stantly the thought of helping and strengthening our soldiers who have 
left their homes. 

* 


In conclusion, I would say, that we hope to accomplish still more 
good, and render aid and comfort still more effectually, as by degrees 
system and methods for greater efficiency are worked out. In an under¬ 
taking of this kind, one cannot mark down a plan of operations so much 
as follow the lead of circumstances. 

Respectfully. 







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